September 18, 2026
The Veterans' Affairs Minister admits the allied health cap was wrong and the Senate passes the Veterans' Healthcare Without Caps bill, as both chambers rise until 12 October.
Veterans' Affairs Minister Matt Keogh spent Thursday admitting he "got it wrong," and the numbers explain why. His department's own figures showed roughly 10 per cent of veteran cardholders were spending more than $5,000 a year on allied health, physio, dental, the works, before the government scrapped its plan to cap that spending at exactly $5,000. That backdown found its legislative form in the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Amendment (Veterans' Healthcare Without Caps) Bill 2026, which passed the Senate Thursday. Independent Senator Jacqui Lambie had called the cap "cruel" and "dangerous" in an emotional Senate speech; Opposition Leader Angus Taylor called for Keogh's resignation over the delay in fixing it; ABC News had the reporting that finally forced the backdown. In the House, Thompson (Herbert, LNP) tried to suspend standing orders and censure the government over the whole saga; it failed 42–89, government and crossbench together against the Coalition. In the Senate, David Pocock (Independent) did the government one better, reading its own budget papers into Hansard: "$748.0 million over three years... from the introduction of an Annual Monetary Limit for veterans' allied health services." An Annual Monetary Limit is a cap, whatever the minister called it on the way in.
Both chambers have now risen for a full fortnight, not returning until Monday 12 October. Here's where to watch, plus a first look at what the committees are up to while the building empties out.
The censure motion aside, Thursday's real business was clearing the backlog before the break. The Aged Care Legislation Amendment (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Aged Care Commissioner and Other Measures) Bill 2026 passed third reading, with a late government amendment adding a human-review pathway after crossbench MPs, including Chaney (Curtin, Independent) citing her own automated-decision-making bill, pushed back on the aged care assessment tool making calls without one. The Customs Amendment (Safeguard Inquiries) Bill 2026 also passed, moving safeguard inquiries to a renamed Australian Trade Remedies Commission. The Customs and Other Legislation Amendment (Illicit Tobacco Enforcement Modernisation and Other Measures) Bill 2026 didn't get there, debate was interrupted under standing order 43 mid-speech and never resumed, a genuine divergence from Wednesday's program, which had it finishing this week. It now carries over to 12 October, alongside every capital-city convenience store still selling illicit cigarettes for around $15 a pack.
Three government bills were introduced and sit at first reading, none yet before a committee hearing:
Three bills also arrived back from the Senate to close out the fortnight:
The private senator's Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Amendment (Veterans' Healthcare Without Caps) Bill 2026, fresh off its Senate passage (see below), arrived in the House the same day. Rather than debate it immediately, the House voted 85–40 to make its second reading an order of the day for the next sitting, government and most of the crossbench for deferral, the Coalition and several independents and Greens wanting it dealt with then and there. In the Federation Chamber, the Carbon Credits and Other Legislation Amendment (Integrity and Transparency) Bill 2026 lost quorum entirely, sitting suspended for half an hour, and debate remains adjourned rather than closed out as Wednesday's program had promised.
The Senate did the substantive work on veterans' healthcare that the House spent its day arguing about. The Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Amendment (Veterans' Healthcare Without Caps) Bill 2026 passed its second reading 34–19 and third reading 33–19. Shoebridge (Greens) read out the extent of veterans' anger at the process; Collins (NSW, Liberal) catalogued what she called a "pattern of contempt," from a stalled defence estate audit to a fight over funding a fallen soldier's memorial. Senator Roberts (Queensland, One Nation) used the neighbouring Defence Force Discipline Amendment (RCDVS Implementation and Related Measures No. 1) Bill 2026 debate, which grew out of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide, to read a harrowing letter from veteran Daniel Dare about the military justice system being turned against him. That bill passed 30–24 with a Collins amendment, then cleared committee and third reading.
Separately, an order for the production of documents on aged care waitlists produced one of the day's sharper exchanges. McAllister (Labor) told the chamber the underlying data was "still undergoing validation"; Ruston (Liberal) responded with the case of a constituent, Lynne Meehan, whose father John died waiting for a home care package. Allman-Payne (Greens) added that roughly 200,000 people are on that waitlist today, against fewer than 50,000 under the Coalition, and that a prior royal commission estimated around 5,000 people a year die waiting for care.
Three Senate references were decided by division: a reference on the adequacy of DVA-funded health treatment restrictions passed 34–21 (too new for its own committee page yet, watch this space); a reference on coastal erosion was negatived 23–32; and a proposal for a new select committee on the construction industry was negatived 23–31. The Universities Accord (Opening the Doors of Opportunity) Bill 2026 survived three separate second-reading amendments, all negatived (13–23, 13–23, 21–32), and remains before the chamber. The Knox Class Action (Facilitation) Bill 2026 had its own second reading and is now the one returned to the House above. The Private Health Insurance Amendment (Modernising the Private Health Insurance Rebate) Bill 2026, which cleared the House this week, only reached a first reading in the Senate before debate was adjourned, a genuine slip from Wednesday's program expecting swift concurrence, so it too now waits until 12 October. On committee membership, Bleyer was added across several committees and David Pocock (Independent) was elected to the Joint Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence, 49–12.
Two references committee reports went on the table Thursday. The Community Affairs References Committee's report on Epilepsy in Australia makes 14 recommendations, headlined by a National Epilepsy Action Plan, a targeted awareness campaign with an explicit SUDEP (Sudden Unexplained Death in Epilepsy) focus, a funded comprehensive epilepsy centre in every jurisdiction, and a PBS review to widen subsidised anti-seizure medications. The Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee's report on the MRH-90 Taipan helicopter incident is sharper still: it recommends an independent review of the Defence Flight Safety Bureau's own investigation, questions whether that bureau should sit inside the department it investigates, and calls for an audit of Army Aviation's safety culture against the Navy and Air Force. Senator Lambie filed additional comments.
The Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee's report on Australia's youth justice and incarceration system was due today; as of drafting it hadn't yet appeared on the committee's page. Summaries when we're back.
With the chambers empty, four public hearings run today: the Community Affairs Legislation Committee on income management, the House Economics Committee's review of the Reserve Bank's 2025 annual report, the Joint Standing Committee on Migration's inquiry into skilled migration, and the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters' inquiry into the 2025 federal election.
The chambers are dark but the committees aren't. Public hearings currently on the board for the recess:
That's the schedule as it stands today; committees add hearings on short notice through the recess, so treat this as a starting list rather than the final word.
Summaries coming when Parliament resumes.
That wraps a big fortnight of sitting; both Houses are back Monday 12 October. Until then!
— Mia
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